Planet of the Apes and the FOrbidden Zone
by TacoStufferZombie
Summary: A look into a simian classroom


Planet of the Apes and the Forbidden Zone  
>By <span>Kristofer Armstrong<span>  
>Copyright 1997.<p>

Disclaimer:  
>I wrote this story as an English 101 creative writing assignment. Please note that:<br>Planet of the Apes and it's characters belongs to whoever it does. I was given no permission to use their characters, ideas, etc.

At the end of the first Planet of the Apes film, we see the Statue of Liberty, half buried in the seashore landscape, which enigmatically lies partially toppled in what the all of the apes call 'The Forbidden Zone'. The cover story in Ape City (where all the apes live) is that the Forbidden Zone is inhospitable, cursed, a wasteland; through the squinted eyes of Charleston Heston, as Taylor(the lost astronaut), we see what the real deal really is: The Forbidden Zone is an Archaeological-Darwinstic-Roswell of sorts, containing proof of the apes status of having descended, at least temporarily, from humans.

As Taylor pounds the indifferent surf with a vengeance, utterly defeated, realizing at last that he's flown some 186,000 light years to escape the terminal stupidness of the modern world, undergone various awful slings, arrows and even nets of outrageous fortune, and that these were about as futile as is cosmological possible; Ellis Island is not only washed ashore, broken and failed, it's moreover buried under sands of mineral rewrite; Earth itself is, in fact, the Planet of the Apes; and a ruined, bestial version of it at that. Taylor, and his world, are literally history.

-_Excerpted from the net(I forget the exact author!)_

With this, I begin my story; Please note that this story takes place during the film 'Beneath the Planet of Apes', just after the gorilla General Ursus' speech about invading the Forbidden Zone and using it's resources for whatever the case may be.

The orangutan teacher read the scroll before the assembled students:

Cornelius and Zira were in their home, listening to Doctor Zaius speak. '"'Cornelius, Zira, I'm asking the both of you to be the guardians of the higher principles of science; I'm to leave with Ursus, as is my duty as Minister of Science; I shall go to catalog, record, and discover what's out there...before we destroy it. Also,'"' turning to wink at Zira, '"'distract Ursus from Cornelius' new site.'"'

Sighing, he continued. '"'If all goes well, I shall be leading them north towards according to the old map scrolls, lies the old city-state of New York; It should be well enough away from Cornelius' site in Michigan. In my absence I'm asking both of you to try to salvage what remains of Cornelius' site before it is lost to our advancement. Will you do as I ask?'"'

Both Cornelius and Zira replied in the positive, showing the good Doctor the way out, when he spun around to face them. '"'Please let there be no violence; Remember, I'm counting on the both of you...'"'

'"'Just as we are counting on you.'"' finished Zira.

Smirking at Zira, Doctor Zaius said, '"'If I should fail to return from the Forbidden Zone, the whole Human civilization may be yours to preserve, or destroy-so think well before you act.'"'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>Cornelius and Zira<p>

The sign read, in Simian Glyph, '"'You are now entering the Forbidden Zone. May the Lawgiver have mercy of your soul.'"' Cornelius shuddered, ignoring the sign, and trying his best not to notice the crucified remains of apes that sat atop the various cliffs. Suddenly, hearing the crunch of gravel behind him, Cornelius grabbed his rifle and spun around to confront who-or-whatever was following him.

'"'Cornelius, no! Don't shoot! It's me...Zira!'"' said the person who was following him.

'"'Zira?'"' asked Cornelius quizzically, lowering his rifle, and embracing his wife, finally noticing the pack animals that she had brought. '"'What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay at home and watch what was going on.'"'

'"'Cornelius, dear, there was this anti-invasion rally held by mostly young chimpanzees in the plaza, and the gorillas didn't like it so they...'"'

'"'They what dear?'"' asked Cornelius, quietly.

'"'They beat them, and then through them into the stockades. Then the gorillas were talking about orders to begin moving west-towards your site!'"' snapped Zira.

'"'My site?'"' said Cornelius silently. '"'How could they know about my site?'"' Soon realization dawned upon his face. '"'Zaius!'"' He hissed.

'"'Yes, Zaius!'"' Zira angrily replied. '"'Both him and General Ursus were riding alongside each other during the aftermath of the rally fiasco. I quickly prepared the pack animals with supplies and came after you, to warn you.'"' Then kissing Cornelius, she continued. '"'Now, tell me about this site of yours; what did you call it? Grande' something?'"'

'"'No dear. It's called 'Grand Rapids'. It's named after a river that once-long before the ancient humans destroyed this world-ran through the town.'"'

'"'How much longer until we arrive there?'"' asked Zira.

'"'More than a few days, I afraid it will probably be more like two weeks.'"'

'"'Oh, well. That's O.k. we have plenty of supplies...and each other.'"'

'"'As long as we can stay ahead of the gorillas.'"' replied Cornelius.

Zira was disappointed to see just how 'grand' the Grand River was: the aftermath of whatever wrongdoings the ancient humans had done, had made the once raging river to become nothing more than swiftly moving stream. Cornelius, noticing the disappointment of her face, said '"'I know that's it's next to nothing now, but imagine what it was like ages ago: a raging river. Look here,'"' pointing to the river canyon walls, with it's various layers of rock. '"'Each one of those layers represent approximately millions of years; the layers on the bottom are oldest, while the ones on the top are the youngest.'"'

'"'Fascinating, dear. But what do call what you are doing?'"' asked Zira, questioningly.

'"'It's a form of an old science used by the ancient humans called stratigraphy. There are ways to use it; for instance at my previous site, I dug in levels each level older than the older one.'"' replied Cornelius.

'"'That's nice dear, but...Oh!'"' her voice, now all but a whisper, continued. '"'Cornelius, behind us, in shadows of the cliff walls, I saw something moving! It has to be the gorillas!'"'

'"'Relax dear, it's probably just some sort of local fauna.'"' asked Cornelius, soothingly. However, seeing a glint of metal-from either a knife, sword, or gun near where Zira said she saw something moving, Cornelius decided that indeed it was gorillas, and said. '"'Zira, dear: let's hurry along, and try to find a place to hide.'"'

Further down the trail, Cornelius spotted something odd: one of the cliff walls was entirely smooth; which could only mean one thing since Simian society hadn't yet to master the art of concrete building: the wall was very old, and most definitely made by man. Cornelius and Zira, hoping off of their pack animals, became to search the wall looking some sign of escape. At the very base of the wall, almost hidden by the canyon wall itself was a hole no bigger that a child's.

Cornelius frowned, and grabbed both him and Zira shovel and they began to attempt to enlarge the hole. After an hour of work, a well rounded pile of dirt and rocks lay beside the hole; it was noticeably bigger and could fit a entire primate inside. Suddenly, Cornelius had an idea: remove the supplies from the pack animals and set them free, then hide in hole while the gorillas followed the animals tracks. He immediately set his plan into motion.

The only thing that went wrong with his plan was that, upon setting the pack animals free, each animal went their own way, leaving two sets of tracks. Cornelius failed to notice this because he had just climbed into the hole and was desperately trying to hide the hole's opening by covering it with rocks and other debris.

The hole was small at first, slanting downward, and Cornelius and Zira had to crawl on their hands and knees to continue their descent into it. Gradually the floor began to slope off, and the ceiling began to rise so that eventually, both explorers could walk upright. Zira began to fumble around in her pack, producing torches and a flint; after lighting Cornelius' she lit hers.

As their eyes adjusted to the light, both Cornelius and Zira gasped in awe to see the remains of a portion of Grand Rapids, only a much bigger portion than that of Cornelius' other site.

Zira, awed be the beauty of the architecture of some of the buildings, said '"'Remember what Doctor Zaius said? The Forbidden Zone was once a paradise; Man's greed had made it a desert.'"'

'"'But he didn't say how it was turned into a desert, now did he?'"'

'"'No, Cornelius but...'"'

'"'Something terrible must have happened!'"' interjected Cornelius. '"'To make the river dry up to all but a trickle, and to bury the city like this.'"'

'"'Dear,'"' said Zira, '"'Remember those earth shakes that we had? And how Doctor Zaius had said that they were a natural thing: that they were always here, and will always continue to be here?'"'

'"'Yes...'"'

'"'So, I think that along with whatever things the ancient humans had done, and along with the earth shakes, this whole area was destroyed and then buried.'"'

'"'A remarkable hypothesis.'"' said Cornelius, clearly impressed.

Doctor Zaius and General Ursus

'"'Sir!'"' snapped a soldier and General Ursus approached him. '"'The scouts have reported back in and are waiting to debrief you in your tent.'"'

'"'Thank you private, that is all.'"' said General Ursus, hurriedly slipping into his tent to hear what the scouts had to report. Soon General Ursus rushed out his tent bellowing orders for the camp to pack up and move out and follow the scouts lead.

The scout lead them to where trail had forked(thanks to the pack animals), and General Ursus ordered them to search the area. Eventually the hole was discovered, and while the debris was being removed, General Ursus ordered a squad of gorilla troops to blow up the hole. However it was Doctor Zaius who suggested otherwise:

'"'You can't be serious! Cornelius and Zira and probably in there! Remember the law: Ape shall not kill Ape! Besides, why make them into martyrs? you can close the hole after they're safely out.'"' Hearing General Ursus' grunt of approval, Doctor Zaius pressed his hand, and asked to lead a small squad of troops down the hole to retrieve Cornelius and Zira and peacefully as possibly.

General Ursus bellowed orders, and soon a small squad of troops were organized, and given orders to follow Doctor Zaius' orders, and then they began their descent into the hole.

The orangutan teacher stopped reading the scroll, folded it up, and asked his students: '"'Who here can tell me what was the outcome of these events?'"'

Few students raised there hands. One was called upon and said:  
>'"'Eventually Doctor Zaius and his troops came upon Cornelius and Zira. After much pleading, Zaius had one his characteristic changes of heart and agreed to let them search the site...Oh, and not not destroy the site.'"'<p>

'"'Good.'"'Replied the teacher. '"'Anyone else care to tell us what law came into being because of this? You, perhaps?'"'

The student rose from her chair and spoke. '"'The 'Zaius Mandate' was the law, and it protected that site as well as the others that were found from theft, destruction and vandalism.'"' The student quickly glanced around the room, and seeing no gorilla students, continued. '"'Which was much to the disappointment of the gorillas, since they liked to blow things up.'"'

'"'Very good. Let's try someone else, how about you?'"' said the teacher, pointing to the new student in class.

'"'Well, the Zaius Mandate sparked a change in Simian culture, encouraging countless members of their society to study the past-both human and simian alike.'"' replied the student.

The teacher was clearly impressed, for whatever stereotypical thoughts she had about humans being stupid and unable to speak, were quickly forgotten after teaching this history class to human children.


End file.
